Maybe It's Just Me

To Know The Future

2011-03-10T21:37:00.001-08:00

The CEO of a shipping business wished he could make his company more profitable. He had great success when he first became CEO, but now shipping orders are down and the company’s profits have been stagnant. Daily the CEO askes himself, “What can be done to improve my company.” Often he would meet with the board of directors and staff to brainstorm together. Occasionally some good ideas would come out of the meetings and new policies would be made. All of the good ideas were implemented, but they never seemed to produce the desired outcome. Frustrated and flustered, the CEO went for a hike on a trail near his home. As he was walking and pondering about the plight of his company, he saw something very peculiar in the distance. There was a rainbow colored turkey coming his way on the trail. He first thought to himself that this turkey must be the victim of a cruel joke and had gotten away from the painters. Turkeys are not indigenous to the CEO’s area so it could have gotten out of a farm or ranch. The CEO continued to walk towards the rainbow turkey expecting it to run off as he got closer, yet it continued to talk towards the CEO. They both came to a stop right in front of each other, the turkey looking up and the CEO looking down both staring into each other’s eyes. The CEO said, “I am surprised you haven’t run away by now, aren’t you afraid of humans?” to this the turkey replied, “I am surprised you haven’t run away by now, aren’t you afraid of rainbow turkeys?” Taken back, the CEO replied, “I am scared now that I know you can talk.” The turkey continued to stare as the CEO as he stood there with a gapping mouth. “Well, let me introduce myself,” the turkey said, “I am the magical rainbow turkey. I appear on this trail once a year between 2:00 pm and 3:12 pm; I grant the wish of the first person I meet and you are the first person I have met, so what is your wish.” The CEO was amazed, not only was he surprised to meet a talking turkey, but he also got to have one wish, “his is to good to be true,” he thought. The CEO stood there still gaped mouthed, but now he was thinking about what his wish would be. He thought “I could ask for super powers but then I would have to deal with the whole responsibility and secret identity crap, no I know what I will wish for…” he paused for a second between his thoughts and what he would say. He then said, “I work for a shipping company and all I want is for my company to be profitable and flourish.” After this was said, there was a flash in the sky and the turkey was gone. Rubbing his eyes from the flash, the CEO stood there wondering if what he had just seen was real. He saw no turkey tracks or trace that the turkey was even there at all. He thought the whole thing to be weird and decided to go home.
A few weeks went by and the CEO often thought of the turkey incident. He thought that if the turkey was real and his wish really was granted, then the company should have changed by now. In the CEO’s head, he always thought as wishes coming true instantly. Kind of like the genie in the Aladdin movie. When the wish was made, the wish would come true. A few more weeks went by and nothing had changed. The CEO thought, “If that whole turkey thing really happened something should have changed by now.” “Whatever,” said the CEO as he decided to forget about the whole thing. He also decided to see a shrink just in case he was losing it. He then packed up work and went home for the weekend. Little did he know what would happen the following week.

The next week came around and things seemed normal for the first couple of days. The shipping docks were working fine, the employees were working well, and the office seemed fine, everything was normal. On Wednesday, a surprise audit was conducted by an accounting firm that was hired by the CEO as an independent auditor for the company. Not being a huge corporation the audit only took a couple of days. The auditors in their search found things the CEO would have never dreamed of. They found that the CFO and a few other accountants had embezzled money from the company. This had been going on for years and no one knew until now. The CEO was shocked, not only had his trusted CFO been stealing money from the company for years, but also he was not alone. It was a huge embarrassment for the company. Once word got out, the news reporters grabbed hold of the story and ran with it. The story was in the papers and news casts for weeks.
Embezzlement alone is enough to hurt a company’s image and workflow, but other things started to go wrong. Machines on the factory floor started to break. First, the scanning tools used to keep inventory went out of whack and when those were fixed or replaced, the conveyer machine broke. All these problems started to show up in the news also. The headlines read, “CFO of shipping company caught for years of embezzlement” and “Shipping company falling apart inside and out.” Weeks and months went by like this making life very stressful for the CEO and the remaining employees who didn’t leave. Many of the employees left thinking the company was going under and others left because they didn’t want to deal with a company that had accounting and machine problems.

The company was not in good shape; customer satisfaction was at an all time low. Deliveries were either late or not delivered at all. The CEO was about at the end of his wits. “What has gone wrong?” he thought, “I had a dream that I wish on a magic turkey for my company to be profitable and flourish and all that has happened is just the opposite.” Everything seemed to go wrong for the CEO and his company. One night as the CEO was lying in his bed staring at the ceiling, he was thinking about all the stress and problems at work and he just broke down. “Why has everything gone wrong?” he thought as he started to sob. He laid there for a long time crying and feeling helpless and hopeless. In that moment of depression, he thought to himself, “I and my company will make it through this lull and be better for it. I need to lift up my head and move forward”. He did not believe what he had just thought, but for some reason he felt better and decided to move forward. The next day at work, he called all the executives and managers into a special meeting to discuss the current company status and figure out how to get the company back on its feet. Often when a company meeting is held, about half of the room is daydreaming and the other half is anger at the first half. For some reason this meeting was not like that. All those in attendance seemed to care about what was said. The room radiated with energy and the ideas flowed like water. After the meeting was over all departed with a sense of accomplishment and drive to improve the company.

Over the next few months, things could not have been better. The CEO looked from with in the company to hire a CFO. The factory was updated with new and improved machines that operated with a more user-friendly system then the old ones. New trucks were purchased and other upgrades were made to the factory. Best of all the employees were ten times happier then they have ever been and that translated to the customers. Business started to pick up. Soon there were orders coming in left and right. The level of shipping orders had never been so high. The company had no problem handling the increased load because of the recent upgrades.

While pondering about the recent inflow of business and the amazing turn around the company had made, the CEO noticed that it was about a year ago when he went on that hike. Then the thought came to him that the turkey said, “I appear on this trail once a year between 2:00 pm and 3:12 pm; I grant the wish of the first person I meet…” The CEO got up from his chair and went through his old schedules to see if he could pinpoint the day he went on that hike. He found that it was a year ago in three days from now. He had never really ruled out that the turkey was not real, yet he still had doubts. Therefore, he decided to check out the trail to see if it was all a dream or not. He told himself that the turkey could have talked but he would never believe that the wish came true because of all the bad things that had happened. The day of his one-year anniversary came around and he went for a hike. He walked down the trail between the hours of 2-4 and stayed close to the area where he thought he remembered he saw the turkey. After about a half hour of hanging out, he started to lose hope. Then in the distance, he saw something familiar. Something short and rainbow colored. Lo and behold, there was the same turkey the CEO had so often said was not real. The CEO walked up slowly and so did the turkey. “So we meet again,” said the turkey seeming as though he was smiling. “Yes we meet again,” replied the CEO still in shock to be talking to a turkey. It took a lot of courage for the CEO to ask this question, but he had to know one thing. “Why did you say you would grant me one wish, why did you lie to me like that? Are you some jokester or something?” To which the turkey replied,”What do you mean I lied? Is not your company prospering and flourishing as we speak?” “Well yes it is no thanks to you Mr. poopy-head. My company went through hell to get to where we are and we worked our butts off to get there.” The turkey’s reply will forever ring in the CEO’s ears, “Sure you are the one who did all the work but I am the one that made it all possible. Your company had problems that needed fixing before you could grow. First, the embezzlement was put to a stop. Second, all the lazy and apathetic employees were weeded out. Third, your operating systems were improved to a capacity that could handle the new inflow of business and now there is room to grow. The old system had reached its maximum capacity, and there is a unity among your employees that all other companies envy. Fourth, when you were at your lowest, I am the one that gave you the final determination to go on no matter what. I whispered to you “Lift up your head and move forward” and you did. Now look where you are… your wish has come true and you are better for it and happier than you have ever been. If I gave to you all that you wanted instantly, you would still have the embezzlement problems and your employees would freak out from all the new machines they wouldn’t know how to use. A wish that is granted instantly is appreciated for but a short time and never benefits the life of the wisher. You wished that your company would prosper and flourish but you were not mentally ready for all the changes that needed to happen so I refined you at the same time I granted your wish”.

The CEO stood dumbfounded. He realized that the wish had come true even if it was not in the way he expected. The turkey was right about him being happier now then he had ever been. Slowly the CEO responded, “I guess you are right. Do I get another wish since I have you here?” “No, I just gave this years allowance to some old lady down the road. I just kept walking this year because I knew you wanted to talk to me.” The CEO stood in amazement to everything that the turkey just said. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hug the turkey for granting his wish or if he wanted to strangle him for putting him through all the trouble over the last year. The turkey had finished all he had to say so he bid the CEO adieu and started to walk on. After the turkey had gotten a bit down the path the CEO yelled out “Just out of curiosity, what did the old lady ask for.” To which the Turkey said back, “She asked for a new pair of dentures because she can’t afford to buy any, but instead of giving her a new pair of dentures I am going to get her care taker thrown in jail.” With a confused sound in his voice, the CEO asked, “Why!” The turkey said, “her care taker has been taking money from this lady for quite some time, if the care taker is taken out of the picture and a new honest one is put in his place the lady will have plenty of money to buy dentures”. The turkey went on to say just before he disappeared in a bright flash of light,”I give people what they need when they ask for what they want”.

The CEO stood in the same place for quite some time thinking about what he had seen and heard. He thought about how grateful he was for all the turkey had done for him and how his life has turned out. The CEO left the trail and never returned but he never forgot the turkey or what he learned over that one year. The CEO never spoke of the turkey to any one and when ever he was confused or thought he needed the turkey’s help he would think, “What would the turkey do” and some how he would figure out what need to be done. The End

Yes on California Prop. 8

2008-10-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

The roots of a tree are very important. They create a strong base, support the structure, and provides an avenue for nutrient to the tree. When the roots are broken or tampered with, the whole tree will weaken and could die. I feel the roots of society is traditional marriage and family. When marriage is tampered with or altered as has happened in California, society (the tree) becomes weaker.

Traditional family is the backbone of a healthy society and allowing same-sex marriage will hurt this backbone.

Please vote YES on Prop 8 if you can or encourage those that you know in California to vote yes.

Thought of the Day

2008-10-13T23:02:00.001-07:00

I was shopping at the local supermarket where I selected:

A half-gallon of 2% milk,
A carton of eggs,
A quart of orange juice,
A head of romaine lettuce,
A 2 lb. can of coffee, and
A 1 lb. package of bacon.

As I was placing my items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind me watched with interest.

While the cashier was ringing up the purchases, the drunk calmly stated, "You must be single."

I was a bit startled by this proclamation, but I was intrigued by his intuition, since I was indeed single. I looked at the six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about my selections that could have tipped off the drunk to my marital status.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I said:
"Well, you know what, you're absolutely right. But how on earth did you know that?"

The drunk replied, "Cause you're ugly."

Ohhh the memories...

2008-08-19T12:12:00.001-07:00

My Final Presentation for Senior Experience

2008-08-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

Click Here to see Awesome in action.

Go to the second page of the link and you can see my Senior group presentation of the feasibility study we did for a Company called Trex. It is called "Trex Business Plan" on the second page. We all got an A.

Help the Police

2008-08-06T21:03:00.001-07:00

Scooter

2008-07-30T13:39:00.001-07:00

Four years this August and still going.

Greatest Game Ever!!

2008-07-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

Private Hour Golf Lesson

2008-07-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

Over the last six months I have grown a love for the game of golf. I have been playing with my older brother and have enjoyed the time we spend together. We both enjoy the game and the practice. We both suck and feel good about it.

Improvement is one of my goals. I found out through some of my friends that the Carlsbad Golf Center has group lessons plus a bucket of balls for $20. I thought the group lesson will be a good place to learn some tips and not have to spend a lot of money.

Saturday morning came around and I was waiting for my brother to show up so we could get to the lesson on time. When time was getting short I called me bro. He said that he wasn't going to make it because someone chopped off his catalytic converter from under his 4Runner.

Well, I was on my own. I jetted to the golf center and made it in time. I signed up for the drop-in lesson and got my bucket of balls. Waiting outside I say people come and go, but no one was waiting for the lesson. I thought "maybe I am waiting in the wrong area. But the lady at the desk told me to wait here." So I waited for a few minutes. When 11:00 arrived, a gentlemen named Paul introduced himself to me. He told me that he was the teacher and that we were going to start. I was the only one in the class. So the lesson started.

When the lesson was over, I received the equivalent of a private lesson from a member of the PGA tour for twenty bucks. He was very down to earth and his instruction was clear and easy to remember. We worked on putting for about a half hour and then irons and woods for about forty minutes. I could see a real difference in my iron hits. I even found the answer to how hit the ball straight instead of to the right like I normally do. I was very happy with the results of the lesson.

If it works out, Wes and I will be hitting up Oceanside Muni course. It isn't a pretty course, but it is inexpensive and we get a cart. Plus it is long and I will be getting a new driver from the Taylormade company store. I need a long course to put my driver to the test. The only reason I can get a driver at the company store is because I have a friend that is an engineer there. Nice to have friends in high places.

Bingo Night

2008-06-25T21:32:00.001-07:00

Our complex has a bingo night for the residence. Not many people show up which is fine because there if more food and prizes for my family. There are 10 rounds and each person gets a bingo pad. Even my daughter got one and she is three. Guess what happened in the second round...

I got this!

Oh yeah!! I am going to get my cleaning on. I also won this.

Life is good.

Another reason not to buy the new iPhone 3G.

2008-06-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

Current costs for my iPhone-

Voice plan- about 39.99
Data plan- 20.00
Text message- 200 included

Plan for the iPhone 3G-

Voice plan- my guess is 39.99
Data plan- 30.00
Text message- 0 included

I don't have all the facts exact, but I am close. Play close attention to the change in data and text. They have gone up quite a bit. I believe the price of a text plan is 4.99 for 200 a month or 10 cents each without a plan.

Lets say I buy an iPhone 3G and get a text plan . The cost per month would be up $15 bucks to equal the price of services I am getting now.

On another note check out this picture...

The blue shade represents the 3G service areas. Unless you are in a large city the service is not provided. Not very good.

Being a tech nerd I really want a 3G iPhone, but I have a really really hard time justifying getting one. The only way I can see myself getting one is if I got it for free or some one was to pay the difference per month. Which is $15 per month over the life of a two year contract. And that comes out to $360 bucks.

Anyone have $360 bucks you want to give me?

Bad day at work.

2008-06-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

Don't let this happen to you.

Why did I buy a scooter?

2008-06-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

About 4-5 years ago I was getting real tired of the high gas prices. It was pushing $1.70 up to $1.90. At this time I was going to school full time and my wife was working full time. We were also thinking about starting our family. One day I said to my self, "Self...you will buy a scooter when gas hits $2.00 butts a gallon." The end of 2003 came around and I think gas hit $2.00 butts. So I made the plan at that point to sell my car and get a scooter. In the mid summer I found the scooter I was looking for and sold my car. I was getting 70 to 80 miles per gallon. Life was good.

In the mid fall of 2004 I remember gas going back down to the mid $1.70. Since the end of 2004 gas has not been under $2.00 butts. It has gone up and up. Driving past a station today I saw the price was $4.57 which is ten cents more than yesterday.

I think I made a good decision back then. I did some calculating to see how much I am paying for gas now. Lets say a car gets an average of 25 mpg. At the price of $4.57 this car can go 25 miles for that price. The price for me to go 25 miles is $1.60. So if I were a car I would be spending $1.60 per gallon. This is about the price gas was 4 to 5 years ago.

Gas sure has gone up a lot. Ten years ago a barrel of oil was $10 and now it is $130.

iPhone 3G....

2008-06-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, the time of the big announcement has come. The iPhone 3G is almost out (click here to see the key note speach). Everybody gather your money and get ready to dump your current provider. It is time to get an iPhone.....or not? Of those that know me, you may recall that last year I spent months saving up money for the first iPhone. At a $600 premium, that device was not a cheap prize. I saved and saved and on June 29 2007 I went to the Apple store in UTC and get my dream in electronic form.

The phone has been great over the last year. I get unlimited internet and Gmaps is awesome. I love having movies on the go and there is plenty of room for music. There are a few things that could be better. First the price was crazy. Second the internet is slow if not on WiFi. Third there was no GPS which is almost a standard on most smart phones these days.

All three of these things are fixed on the new phone. Here is a list of the improvements.

1. $199 for the 8gig and $299 for the 16gig
2. 3G internet speed that is clocked at 2.8 to 3.6 times faster
3. GPS in Gmaps

The other improvements that will be coming to the phone also apply to the current phone. These are third party applications. None are released, but I am sure they will be good.

So, am I planning on getting the new phone? The answer a few months ago was a definite yes, but now I am not so sure. Here is how I see it. If I am willing to fork out $300 for it, what am I getting? The first $100 is going to an additional 8 gigs (I currently have the 8gig). The second $100 is going for GPS which is not a bad deal because a GPS device can cost $200 or more. The third $100 is going to high speed internet.

Also there is a $10 hike per month with the new phone for use of the internet. That brings the total cost to $30 bucks a month just for internet. Over a two year period the additional $10 per month adds $240 to the cost of the phone which is more than it would have been if the price was left at the current retail price.

It doesn't seem like it is worth the cost. The only way I could justify the purchase is if I sold my current phone for at least $150 bucks. Who would want to buy my phone for that much when you can get a 3G 8gig iPhone for $50 dollars more.

We will see if I get one.

MagicJack Update

2008-06-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

One of the nice features of the MagicJack is you get an email sent to you when a voice mail is left. Well now it is ever cooler. Now along with the email an attached copy of a WAV file is sent. The file is the message. Genius idea!!

Annual 39 cent ice cream

2008-06-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

Every year in late April Baskin Robins has a sell of Ice cream for 39 cents. Rachel didn't eat her dinner so she didn't get any ice cream. I ate two double scoops. One for me and one for her. Ok I didn't really eat hers. I want two double scoops anyway.

I remember back in the day thrifty had ice cream for 25 cents. 39 cent ice cream is not bad.

Del Mar tickets at Costco (San Diego County Fair is a Stupid name)

2008-06-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

About a week ago we went to Costco. After we gathered the few things we needed we walked past the ticket section where one can find cheaper movie tickets or amusement park tickets. We found tickets to the Del Mar Fair for a really good deal. For 52 butts approximately we got 4 adult admission ticket, four vouchers for drinks when food is purchased (funnel cake here I come), and 60 ride tickets. A ride is about 3-6 tickets. I think this is a good deal because normal tickets are 10 butts and my guess is that ride tickets are more than 20 butts for 60 tickets. I think we did well.

We plan to go June 30th because Weird Al is putting on a free show. We saw him last year. Good times.

LegoLand is Free....for an hour

2008-06-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I getting soaked.

We took various rides.

My sister in law and niece on right. My family on left.

So we come to find out that Lego land is free for the last hour of operation. We showed up 3:45 and parking was free. We walked up to the front and waited at the gates until 4:00. When the witching hour struck we walked in and had fun. It was a hot day so the water part was really fun.

If you have ever seen the Sreet View from Google maps, you may be formiliar with this machine. Soon the street view will offer a ground tour of Lego land and we might be on it with our faces fuzzed out. Sweet!

My idea to get new music for cheap prices. And I think it is legal.

2008-06-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

I like to get new music, but I don't want to pay the full price for it. Nor do I want to steal music using bit torrent programs like limeline or Kazaa. In order to get the best of both worlds I conjured up an idea. It has been known to me that a person could buy used CDs on sites like Half.com and Amazon.com. I have an eBay account, so I use Half.com because it is owned by eBay. Used CDs sell for very little and they come in an verity of quality.

My idea is simple and I am sure I am not the first to think if it. First you purchase an album. Then you get an iTunes or equivalent account. Next you load the CD into iTunes and listen to the music on your mp3 player. Then the key ingredient... resell the CD on the same site you purchased it. I have done this with one CD so far. I purchased it for 99 cents + shipping. It came out to around four dollar. The CD resold for 1.48 + shipping and I sent it yesterday.

Keep in mind that this CD didn't resell for two months. Give it a try. Make sure you send me a dollar everytime you get a new CD and resell it. It was my idea.

Gay cars of the day

2008-05-31T18:31:00.001-07:00

Toyota van with Dual Exhaust... GAY!

Dodge Stratus with a spoiler... GAY!!

The Ever-lasting Five Head....

2008-05-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

Like a ninja I stocked my prey to bring you these photos. I found this rare specimen of comb-over man at the Wild Animal Park. Take a closer look...

Let me draw your attention to the pony tail. Very Rare!!

Notice how the tight the hair is against his head. Very Rare!!

Now you can see where the comb-over starts. Very Rare!!

This one may be harder to see. Look closely and you will enjoy his everlasting five head.

Gigantic Turkey Sub...

2008-05-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

Almost done with school

2008-05-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

I graduated from CSUSM yesterday. This is one of my greatest accomplishments. I have been in college for about eight years. I have changed majors, failed and retaken classes, taken time off for family. I am done with CSUSM, but I still have some lower division classes to finish before getting my diploma. I am doing those at the junior college.

I had plenty of family that came to the graduation ceremony. The only problem is I didn't see anyone there before the ceremony or after. So there isn't much in the ways of pictures to remember the event. Without the help of pictures I want to list off the people that came to support me.

-My wife for makeing it a great day
-Rachel for being three and fun
-The Truman family for coming out from the desert
-My Parents
-Ian and Katy
-Michele
-Dave and Karen for letting me use their house for the party
-Papa J, Leah, and Mack for coming out from LA
-Jesse and Difudifu and Elizabeth
-Solano family for coming to the party

Here are the people I don't want to thank:

-Wes for not coming to my wedding reception or graduation.
-TC and Beth
-Any friend that I have known for more then ten years that didn't call or come.

Up yours.

Punched for Food

2008-04-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

With the recent rise in the wholesale price of food, some people need to take alternative measures to feed themselves and family.

MagicJack Update

2008-04-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

We have been using the thing for about two months and I think the sound quality is better now than it was when I first got it.